There are still three days left before the Spring Festival of 1980 among the jingle bells. There is no TV, and there is no Spring Festival Gala, but the flavor of this era is better than that of later generations.
Small businessmen and hawkers who used to be evasive in the streets and alleys suddenly became bold. Who doesn’t want to make money to buy some New Year’s goods during the New Year? The people above will also understand their difficulties, right?
The alley, which had been quiet for who knows how many years, heard the sound of selling goods again. Sugar figures, paper-cuts, dough... the whole Yanjing City seemed to come alive in an instant.
Yang Dongxu has been very busy these days, so busy that he doesn't even have time to take a breath. It is a Chinese custom to carry out large-scale purchases at the end of the year, and the objects being purchased are naturally not just New Year's goods.
Even if you don’t have money, you still need to buy new clothes. The new year and new atmosphere are not the same. If you have money, you can sell more. As long as it is available in the supply and marketing cooperative and does not require tickets, it is like a robbery and everyone will take everything home.
Bicycles are naturally the focus of every household's purchase. When visiting relatives after the New Year, riding bicycles with my wife and children, it will definitely be a good sign. Therefore, the sound of car bells is always ringing in the alley. It is not that someone in front of you is blocking the way by ringing the car bell to let the other person give way, but to attract the attention of the surrounding neighbors, and then they know that they are also 'car owners'.
Wu Aibing, who was wearing a dog-skin hat, pushed open the door and entered the house. A gust of cold wind hit him, making Yang Dongxu, who was only wearing a sweater, shiver. However, he kept working and pressed steel balls into the bearings one by one.
"How many cars are left?" Yang Dongxu asked without raising his head.
"21 vehicles." Wu Aibing took off his gloves and threw them aside. Wu Aibing took the wrench next to him and began to assemble the large pieces.
"Weren't we just short of 18 cars this morning? You just sent out two cars?" Yang Dongxu tilted his head and looked at Wu Aibing.
"Well... when I sent it over, the friend who bought the car saw it, so he ordered a few more." Wu Aibing smiled awkwardly.
"Once again, you are not allowed to take on new jobs. If you do, do it yourself. Do you want to exhaust me to death or something?" Yang Dongxu waited for Wu Aibing.
This guy simply wants money rather than his life. Although Yang Dongxu understands the enthusiasm of people in this era for making money, he is also full of enthusiasm for making money, but if you spend all the New Year's Eve in order to make money and cannot celebrate the New Year, this is Isn't it necessary?
"They want me after the New Year, so there's no rush. I won't pick it up. I definitely won't pick it up before the New Year, and I won't even pick it up after the New Year." Wu Aibing accompanied him.
People in this era still have no sense of security, and they are a little worried about gain and loss in everything they do. Therefore, Wu Aibing wanted to sell as many cars as possible while this business seemed to be less risky. Even if he was not allowed to sell that day, he would still have savings in his hand, right?
"How is the person you asked to find?" Yang Dongxu glared at Wu Aibing fiercely, not having any hope for the guarantee in his mouth. He had been listening to this guarantee since the 10th day of the twelfth lunar month, and ended up ordering a car. There are still more and more people. This guy is afraid that the other party will regret it and takes the deposit, so Yang Dongxu can only work hard.
"I found it. He said he would come over after dinner in the afternoon. But don't we have a kitchen? Why do we still have a stove in the side room?" Wu Aibing looked at Yang Dongxu in confusion.
In addition to the three main rooms and three side rooms in the yard, there is also a kitchen opposite the side room. If the toilet is also included, there will be a total of eight houses.
Normally no one is using the kitchen, and the only thing that is burning is the coal stove in the room at this time. The ingredients and other ingredients are all prepared by Old Man Xuan, brought over and thrown into the iron pot to stew.
As a single man in his forties, cooking is the most basic requirement for a true otaku, so Yang Dongxu's cooking skills are not bad. However, after his rebirth, he obviously became much lazier. In addition, there was old man Xuan around him who was better at eating than him, so naturally he was too lazy to do anything.
"There is a use in getting another pot stove. Have you said anything about letting you and your mother come over to celebrate the New Year?" Yang Dongxu was too lazy to explain. When they eat such delicacies as ground pot chicken, they will know that it is there. There is a stove in the house, but it is not used as a kitchen.
"Wouldn't this be too much trouble?" Wu Aibing was a little moved.
He and his mother were the only ones celebrating the New Year at home. Both sisters were already married and would not come over to visit relatives until the third day of the Lunar New Year, so staying at home was quite boring.
"What's the trouble? If you two don't come, we won't be able to celebrate the New Year? Old man Xuan will also come by then. You guys will come over and have fun together. It's not like you don't know what's going on here, and it's not like yours. Stuttering." Yang Dongxu said.
"Okay, I'll bring my mother over when the time comes." Wu Aibing's previous excuse was not to be hypocritical, but because he didn't want to cause trouble to others. After all, everyone's life is a little tight these days, right? But Yang Dongxu was just talking about it. If he didn't come over, he would obviously be disrespectful.
Two masons came over in the afternoon. Instead of opening a hole in the roof for the chimney, they opened a hole in the back wall to lead the chimney out. The two masons were very nimble with their hands and feet. Yang Dongxu originally thought that he would have to do another half-day of work tomorrow, but they finished it all in one afternoon.
"Uncle, your work really doesn't matter." He put a handful of straw into the pot and lit it. After burning for a while, there was no smoke in the room. Yang Dongxu gave a thumbs up to the masons who were working.
"As long as my boss is satisfied." The mason grinned, revealing yellowish teeth.
Since I was very satisfied with the work, and the oval shape of the pot was very comfortable to look at, I handed over the unmentioned 10 yuan bill without looking for it.
The two masons pushed back a few times, and found that Yang Dongxu really gave, and was not being polite. The smile on his face became even bigger, and he generously said that he would contact them for a discount if he had any jobs in the future.
The bricklayer had just left the house when old man Xuan walked in and pulled Yang Dongxu out of the door without any explanation. Wu Aibing glanced at the half-assembled bicycle with a reluctant look on his face, then just closed the door and locked it and followed.
The location is a bit far away in Dong'anfu Hutong opposite Xinhua Gate on West Chang'an Street. Wu Aibing rode his bicycle, while Yang Dongxu and Old Man Xuan sat on the cart and chattered for a long time before they arrived.
The yard is very big. Just by looking at it, you can tell that it is very big. The threshold of the door is as high as the waist of Yang Dongxu, a seven-year-old kid. The two big lions at the door are very powerful.
Old Man Xuan pointed to the gate and introduced it as Guangliang Gate, which was only slightly lower than the Wangfu Gate. People who could live here were either rich or noble in the past. After all, the stone lion at the door in the past was not something anyone could put away if they wanted.
But although the gate is majestic, it cannot hide the dilapidation, especially after entering the house. After passing through the hanging flower gate and entering the second courtyard, the disappointment in Yang Dongxu's eyes became even stronger.
The yard is big, really big. The big yard on the fourth side has a garden, a rockery, and a small pond. It's not big, how could it be bigger? Although there are no pavilions and pavilions comparable to the palace, it covers an area of at least 3,000 square meters.
But it was too dilapidated. There were overgrown weeds everywhere in the yard. Rabbits could be driven out of them, not to mention other snakes, insects, rats, and ants. The wing rooms were basically in ruins. Even if they hadn't fallen down, they were uninhabitable.
The main house can be barely lived in without tidying it up, but living in a yard like this is haunted at night, and it is not impossible that there are some vixens. Looking at the outside of the house, just looking at the inside of the house is nothing compared to a ruined temple in the wilderness. the difference.
After walking around for a while, Yang Dongxu and his party returned to the opposite room at the entrance of the house, which is the south room of the first row of houses in the courtyard. This is the only place in the entire courtyard where people can be entertained, and there is only one room.
This is the residence of the owner, a sixty-year-old man wearing an old-fashioned coat. It is in a mess, including the bed, kitchen, and even the urinal. The air is sour.
"Can we buy this house? The renovation will be enough for us to buy a similar house, right?" Yang Dongxu glanced at Old Man Xuan without covering up, and said directly.
The old man who owned the house smiled with an embarrassed look on his face, and the old man Xuan also looked a little ugly. Although there was an outsider who didn't reach out to slap Yang Dongxu, he said politely: "If it weren't so broken, would it be your turn to sell it?"
Although Old Man Xuan spoke rudely, Yang Dongxu still agreed with his statement in his heart. It's just because it's so shabby that the government didn't arrange for people to live in it, otherwise it would have turned into a large courtyard long ago.
It was precisely because the old house owner, Taipo, was rehabilitated that the old house was returned to him. The old man didn't sell his ancestral home at first, otherwise he wouldn't have repaired the gate.
But he forgot that he was no longer the rich rich man he used to be, and his family was no longer a high-ranking official in the Qing Dynasty, so his pocket was at the bottom just by repairing the door. Coupled with other reasons, he was ready to sell the house.
"How much?" Yang Dongxu asked as he glanced at the house behind through the open door.
"Five...three thousand, three thousand is fine." The homeowner grinned, showing a few missing teeth, and gestured with his fingers.
Is it expensive to sell this shabby house for so much money? It's not expensive at all. Even if Yang Dongxu doesn't plan to rebuild it, the land for a house will not be worth the price after being left here for a few years.
But this price is too much now. Three thousand yuan is enough for Yang Dongxu to buy a large courtyard with three entrances, and it can be lived in at any time.
Yang Dongxu glanced at Old Man Xuan and found that Old Man Xuan did not respond to him at all. He knew that Old Man Xuan was not prepared to participate in the bargaining.
"In this case, don't ask for three thousand yuan. I won't cheat you. According to the current market price, it's 2,000 yuan. If you think it's okay, we'll go through the formalities. But you have to move out after the new year. I'm going to overhaul this place."
The old man looked at Old Man Xuan and then at Wu Aibing. He was obviously a little surprised that there was an adult standing next to him, but he asked a child to negotiate the price with him.
"He is the one who paid for the house. Although he is young, he can decide the affairs of the family, just like he said." Old man Xuan, who had been silent just now, seemed to have noticed the old man's doubts and said.
Yang Dongxu looked at the old man and then at Old Xuan, feeling that there might be a relationship between the two people. Otherwise, Old Man Xuan would not have taken him to see such a dilapidated house with his critical eyes, even though he had said that it didn't matter whether the house was good or bad, as long as the place was big enough.
But since Old Man Xuan didn't tell him on the way, Yang Dongxu didn't intend to ask. He just needs to make sure that Old Man Xuan won't trick him. Besides, for such a big yard, let alone three thousand yuan, even the five thousand yuan that the old man wanted to talk about just now won't be a loss.
"Well, I don't want more than 2,200 yuan. If possible, let's go through the formalities now and I will move out immediately. It's the New Year's Day. I'll go back to the countryside to celebrate the New Year. I don't have to wait until next year." The old man smacked his lips. He glanced at the panicked courtyard and said through gritted teeth.
